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Face the Facts: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples • 2014 • 1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have a unique • In 2011, more than one in three Aboriginal and Torres place in Australia as the original inhabitants of the land. Strait Islander people were under 15 years (36 per cent), compared with one-fifth of non-Indigenous Across the country, many individuals and communities Australians. Almost four per cent of Aboriginal and maintain strong connections to their culture, language and Torres Strait Islander people were aged 65 years and traditional lands, while also contributing to the environmental over, compared with 14 per cent of non-Indigenous management, economic development and cultural identity of Australians.5 our nation. • In 2011, 11 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples hold distinctive Islander people spoke an Indigenous language at rights as Australia’s First Peoples, set out in international law. home.6 And in 2009, Australia gave its formal support to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a ground-breaking document that seeks to reset relationships between indigenous peoples and governments around the Key issues for Aboriginal globe. However, despite some improvements in recent years, and Torres Strait Islander Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to be one of the most vulnerable groups in Australia. Peoples

• In 2010-12, the average life expectancy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was approximately About ten years (10.6 years for men and 9.5 years for women) less than that of non-Indigenous Australians.7 Leading causes of death included heart disease, • In 2011, almost 670 000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait 8 Islander people were living in Australia;1 around three diabetes, respiratory disease and cancer. per cent of the Australian population. By 2031, it is • Just over half (52.2 per cent) of Aboriginal and Torres estimated that this number will exceed one million, Strait Islander people aged between 15 and 64 years with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were not employed in 2012-2013, compared with comprising 3.9 per cent of the population.2 24.4 per cent of non-Indigenous Australians.9 • One third (34.8 per cent) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait • One in five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Islander people live in major cities;3 43.8 per cent live women experienced physical violence in the previous in regional areas; 7.7 per cent live in remote areas; and 12 months, compared to seven per cent of non- 13.7 per cent live in very remote areas.4 Indigenous women. Over the same period, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women (12 per cent) were three times more likely to experience sexual violence than non-Indigenous women (four per cent).10

2 • In 2008, half of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over had some form of Did you know? disability.11 In non-remote areas, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were one-and-a-half times more The Aboriginal rock art in Western Australia’s Dampier likely than non-Indigenous adults to have a disability Archipelago is at least twice as old as the Pyramids of or a long-term health condition.12 Egypt.22 • Around one in twelve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults are part of the Stolen Generations. In 2008, eight per cent (26,900) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over stated Find out more that they had been removed from their natural family. Thirty five per cent assessed their health as fair or • Australian Human Rights Commission, poor and 39 per cent experienced high or very high Social Justice Reports levels of psychological distress.13 • Australian Human Rights Commission, • The national imprisonment rate for Aboriginal and Native Title Reports Torres Strait Islander adults is 15 times higher than • Australian Human Rights Commission; Bringing that for non-Indigenous adults.14 In the December Them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into quarter of 2013, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people comprised 27 per cent of Australia’s full-time Children from Their Families (1997) adult prison population.15 • Close the Gap: Campaign for Indigenous Health • There were approximately 250 Australian Indigenous Equality (2006 – current) languages spoken at the time of colonisation. However, a 2005 survey found that only 145 • Australian Human Rights Commission, Close the Gap: Indigenous languages are still spoken to some degree Progress and Priorities Report 2014 (2014) and less than 20 are considered to be “strong” and • Productivity Commission, Overcoming Indigenous able to be spoken by all generations.16 Disadvantage: Key Indicator Reports • United Nations, Declaration on the Rights of Positive developments Indigenous Peoples

• Between 2005-07 and 2010-12, life expectancy for Our role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men increased by 1.6 years and by 0.6 years for women. Over the same The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice period, the life expectancy gap between Aboriginal Commissioner keeps the human rights issues facing and Torres Strait Islander people and the rest of the Australia’s First Peoples before the Australian Parliament by Australian population reduced by 0.8 years for men preparing an annual Social Justice Report and Native Title 17 and 0.1 years for women. Report. He also promotes community understanding of and • In 2011, 53.9 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait respect for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Islander people aged between 20 and 24 years had Peoples. attained a Year 12 or equivalent qualification, up from 18 The Commission’s role includes reviewing the impact of laws, 47.4 per cent in 2006. Higher levels of educational policies and programs on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander attainment are associated with better health 19 people, as well as providing policy advice and research on a outcomes. range of pressing human rights issues. • Between 2002 and 2012, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smoking rates dropped from 51 per cent to The Commission also hosts the Close the Gap: Campaign 41 per cent.20 for Indigenous Health Equality. • The 2011 Census results show that health services Find out more about our work in this area. currently employ 14.6 per cent of employed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Health services are the single biggest “industry” source of employment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, expanding by almost 4,000 places since 2006.21

Face the Facts: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples • 2014 • 3 Endnotes

1 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 3238.0.55.001-Estimates of Aboriginal 12 Australian Bureau of Statistics, above. and Torres Strait Islander Australians, June 2011 (August 2013). 13 Australian Bureau of Statistics, note 11. 2 Australian National University, CAEPR Indigenous Population Project, 14 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 4512.0-Corrective Services, Australia, 2011 Census Papers – Paper 14, Population Projections (2011). December quarter 2013 (March 2014). 3 Australian Bureau of Statistics, note 1. 15 Australian Bureau of Statistics, above. 4 Australian Bureau of Statistics, note 1. 16 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1301.0-Year Book Australia, 2009–10 5 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2075.0-Census of Population and (June 2010). Housing: Counts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2011 17 Australian Bureau of Statistics, note 7. (June 2012). 18 Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australian Government, 6 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2076.0-Census of Population and note 9. Housing: Characteristics of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2011 (November 2012). 19 Australian Bureau of Statistics, note 11. 7 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 3302.0.55.003-Life Tables for Aboriginal 20 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 4727.0.55.001-Australian Aboriginal and and Torres Strait Islander Australians (November 2013). Torres Strait Islander Health Survey: First Results, Australia, 2012-13 (November 2013). 8 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 3303.0-Causes of Death, Australia, 2011 (March 2013). 21 Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘New 2011 Census data reveals more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ (Media release) 9 Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australian Government, 30 October 2012. Closing the Gap, Prime Minister’s Report 2014 (2014). 22 Australian Heritage Council, National Heritage Assessment: The Dampier 10 Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth), Preventing violence Archipelago (including the Burrup Peninsula) (2006). against women in Australia: Research summary (2011). 11 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 4704.0-The Health and Welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, October 2010 (February 2011).

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